Free Republic

A federal judge said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "exceeded" their executive limits by limiting worship services and condoning mass protests as the state continues to reopen from coronavirus restrictions. U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe issued a preliminary injunction Friday on behalf of two Catholic priests -- Steven Soos and Nicholas Stamos -- and a trio of Orthodox Jewish congregants -- Elchanan Perr, Daniel Schonborn, and Mayer Mayerfeld -- in Brooklyn, represented by the Thomas More Society.... De Blasio had "simultaneous pro-protest/anti-religious gathering messages" when he "actively...

New Jersey residents can now gather in outdoor groups of up to 250 people and rules on indoor groups were also relaxed Monday as Gov. Phil Murphy continues to gradually lift restrictions he ordered to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The easing on gathering limits comes on the same day Murphy announced indoor dining and Atlantic City casinos can reopen to customers with 25% capacity limits on July 2, just in time of the busy Fourth of July weekend. Murphy had set Monday as the date he would likely increase the gathering limits, which now stands at 250 outdoors, up from...

Tulsa police announced a curfew for areas around the BOK Center ahead of President Donald Trump’s scheduled campaign rally. In a Facebook post Thursday evening, police announced that an area of downtown will be off limits from 10 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Saturday ahead of the rally. The curfew will again take effect after the rally until 6 a.m. Sunday. The curfew is the result of an executive order from Mayor G.T. Bynum, which cites both local and nationwide unrest in recent weeks as the rationale for the curfew.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio are using coronavirus restrictions as a "blatant double standard" to discriminate against people of faith, using threats of fines and criminal prosecution, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. “Why is a large worship gathering deemed more dangerous than a mass protest, full of shouting, arm-waving people in close proximity to one another?” Christopher Ferrara, Thomas More Society special counsel, said in a statement to Fox News. “These orders, both the emergency stay-home and reopening plan declarations, clearly discriminate against houses of worship,"...

Earlier this month, a Twitter account called We See What You're Doing posted a screenshot of a Northeastern School District principal's personal Facebook page, which shared a video saying that Black Lives Matter is a "leftist lie." The post asked Shallow Brook Intermediate School Principal Scott D'Orazio why he didn't tweet it from his school. It tagged the intermediate school's Twitter account. Now his job is on the line. The district administration, which includes Supt. Stacey Sidle, recommended his firing during a school board meeting on Monday night. District officials allege D'Orazio acted outside of his authority by deleting the...

The Northeastern superintendent is recommending the school board fire an intermediate school principal accused of sharing a social media post calling Black Lives Matter a "lie." At Monday's virtual meeting, the school board unanimously authorized the administration to summon Shallow Brook Intermediate School Principal Scott D'Orazio for a hearing before the board. The hearing would only be open to the public if D'Orazio agrees to open it, and his employment status would be determined by a board vote then, district solicitor William J. Zee said in an email Tuesday. The time and date of the hearing have not yet been...

The obscure British group that nearly forced Google to drop ads on The Federalist is continuing its efforts to demonetize American conservative media outlets it accuses of publishing inflammatory or racist content. The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), founded in 2019 by Labour party organizers, put out a call for donations Tuesday after NBC News reported that Google was poised to ban The Federalist and Zero Hedge, a libertarian-leaning website, from making money off of Google Ads. CCDH’s affiliate, “Stop Funding Fake News,” claimed on Wednesday that it had pressured Ford, the auto maker, to consider dropping ads on...

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D., N.Y.) said Monday that religious liberty is a "bogus term" that merely serves as a "pretext for discrimination." Maloney was celebrating the morning's high-profile victory for LGBT rights at the Supreme Court, but he took time to criticize the author of the decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch, for having supported religious liberty. "We know that Neil Gorsuch is a supporter of so-called religious liberty, which is a bogus term—it is actually some sort of pretext for discrimination hiding behind the guise of religion," Maloney said. "I'm still on the lookout for that from the author of...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that existing federal law forbids job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, a major victory for advocates of gay rights — and a surprising one from an increasingly conservative court. The decision said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person's sex, among other factors, also covers sexual orientation. It upheld rulings from lower courts that said sexual orientation discrimination was a form of sex discrimination. Across the nation, 21 states have their own laws prohibiting job discrimination based on...

A United Nations human rights expert is recommending changes in the way protests are handled in the United States, saying the process of issuing permits for demonstrations is “arbitrary” and could easily lead to discrimination against certain groups. Maina Kiai of Kenya, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, offered preliminary findings Wednesday from his visits this month to seven U.S. cities — including the sites of this year’s Democratic and Republican political conventions — to investigate how the U.S. upholds its citizens’ rights of assembly and association. Kiai’s full report to the United Nations will...

Pastor Larry Ihrig had a message for congregants as he greeted them with elbow bumps Sunday morning at the entrance to the sanctuary at Livermore’s Celebration Church. “Welcome home again, guys. I wish we could hug, but we can’t do any of that.” One congregant rejoiced as they arrived at the doors: “Thank the Lord. We’re finally back.” More than 100 worshipers came out to the church Sunday morning for the first in-person service in more than two months, curtailed in March by the region’s public health orders, put in place nearly two and a half months ago to curb...

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo raised eyebrows on Tuesday night when he suggested that the George Floyd protesters don't have to be "polite and peaceful." Cuomo blasted those who believe the national "problem" is the riots that have taken place following the death of George Floyd and not the police brutality that prompted the nationwide protests. "Now too many see the protests as the problem. No, the problem is what forced your fellow citizens to take to the streets: persistent, poisonous inequities and injustice," Cuomo told his viewers. "And please, show me where it says protesters are supposed to be polite...

There have been violent riots in Wisconsin's capital of Madison, where a group of about 150 demonstrators threw rocks at police officers on Saturday night, according to WITI-TV. At least 75 stores were damaged or looted overnight. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel politics and statehouse reporter Patrick Marley tweeted, "Police chief says they aren't arresting people tonight." Interim Madison Police Chief Vic Wahl said his officers stood back during the protests. While Madison didn't do much to prevent the barrage of looting in the city, officials want citizens to know that church services of more than 50 people will absolutely not be...

The Supreme Court rules in favor of coronavirus regulations but first...... National Guard mobilization and deployment now underway in numerous states with a major deployment in Los Angeles this morning.... And incidents of violence and vandalism continued across the country late this afternoon and into the evening in Chicago and Philadelphia and other cities...Fires set near the White House with protesters again on the streets....This was the scene outside the White House as reported by Australia's Nine Network just after 7 pm tonight..... Police swooped down and made 150 arrests of protesters in Minneapolis this evening...... Some additional details on...

Welcome to the weekend the Dictatorship of Covid-19 continues the "New Normal" emerging that isn't "True Normal". I got an N95 mask this week to use at work in both my jobs which helps me to perform better on the jobs. No headache or shortness of breath side effects I have experienced with other masks... Images have the power to outrage or enrage and in 1963 the race issue was propelled to the forefront in the United States when this was seen on television.... Well is this all about race? I think there's something deeper here the dehumanization of other...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberals in turning away a request from the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, in the San Diego area.

Most Americans consider their freedom of speech to be sacrosanct because it has been codified into law in the Bill of Rights, in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The famous exception everyone knows it that you can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theatre -- in other words, you aren’t free to inspire panic within the general public. But what if the general public has already panicked, and the speech being suppressed is actually trying to calm people? Recently a disturbing video of Dr. Ivette Lozano at an Open Texas! rally appeared, claiming that pharmacists have refused to fill...

President Donald Trump stepped up to declare houses of worship "essential places that provide essential services" to the American people. "The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important, essential places of faith to open right now for this weekend," he said. The president raised eyebrows by declaring that he will "override" governors if they don't do it. Where's the president's authority to override governors on this matter? I'm not a constitutional attorney, but I do have common sense. The president takes an oath of office during which he swears to "preserve, protect and defend the...

Reopening of churches and other houses of worship appears to be developing as an issue of some controversy as the nation moves to reopen society. An earlier article reviewed unreasonable attempts to prevent corporate worship even where there were drastic measures to prevent the spread of disease (such as drive in worship in separate cars or very small congregations widely spaced). The unreasonable claims that such meetings endanger lives when drive-in restaurants are allowed is clearly inconsistent, and appears to show that religious activity is being unduly restricted. As this writer has argued in a previous article related to the...

Chicago Pastor Courtney Lewis said he was in the middle of delivering a sermon to his congregation Sunday when he heard loud banging on the church doors. It was the police sent by the city's Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Lightfoot had allegedly dispatched officers in three squad cars along with two unmarked vehicles in order to shut down the service at Cornerstone Baptist Church, Lewis claimed in a letter of grievance to U.S. Attorney John Lausch.